From the photos I have seen of the housing and port it is clear the they are two different pieces and not one molded unit. It would be interesting to know if the port is threaded or bonded to the housing. If the port can in some way be removed without damage to the housing we could start all kinds of rumors about add on ports and lenses.

That actually isn't true. The port and housing are different molded parts, connected via a bayonet, and locked in place with a locking screw. I didn't take the liberty of disassembling the sample in the Olympus display at Our World Underwater, but I'm reasonably confident that a third party manufacturer could offer a dome for 9-18.

What remains to be seen is if this camera actually focuses any faster than E-P1, or at all...

That is very interesting Ryan, I have also seen several postings which imply that the M43 17 or pany 20 "pancake" type lenses could be used with the offered port. It appears to me based on my use of other Oly housings with 14 to 42 ports that those lenses would sit so far back in the port and would vignette. Anyone try those lenses with the housing?

I will be waiting to see the outcome of the speed tests. 43 rumors.com reports that Olympus has stated future M43 cameras will equal the best DSLR speeds and that the Oly's DSLR line will be mirrorless within two years time and still work with the existing line of 43 lenses.

too bad they felt they needed to include the electronic viewfinder in the casing... That casing could have been P&S size. Let's see if Panasonic wakes up from it deeeeeep slumber. Hope the Pen 2 will fits the casing.

Rene Potvin

BTW I am presently going from Miami to Montreal on a kayak, you can follow me on my blog at http://miami2montreal.wordpress.com/Do subscribe, I need the numbers for my sponsors, thanks!

Repep: right. Can someone explain why you'd want to look through an EVF viewfinder underwater when you can look at a big LCD screen (w/ I'm assuming just as many or more pixels)? Besides bright light viewing what reason is there?

Yeah, I saw the mysterious screw. It looks like there's a sleeve inside. But then you've got the cost of a port and the bigger issue of who's going to warranty it. Olympus told me any modifications like that would void the warranty. I think a 3rd party housing may be a better answer for advanced users.

The 17mm Oly will vignette.

Turning the camera to spot focusing, it is quite quick to focus, much, much faster than a P&S, not quite as fast as a DSLR. I spun it around at the show and it locked very quickly. A good focus light will improve things, but I tried focusing on a crack in the dark wood floor in the shadows and had no problem. The 9-18 is faster, due to internal focus.

James, not sure abotu the EVF.

I'm promised a demo unit to do some test dives with the system. But it'll probably be a month.

EVF is good for divers beyond 40 where they find difficulty of close up vision of the monitor, that's me
if you take still picture, no problem, you just guess where the object locate and autofocus help you to focus, if the position of your shot is not good, just crop it and make it looks alright.
But while you shot video, better to use the EVF to locate the object well in the centre of your shot, and you need EVF to help you focus by moving your housing back and forth.
EP-1 autofocus is bad with video mode, I have to rely EVF to see clear about the focus during video shotting.
Olympus is good to include EVF so divers with close up vision problem do not have to buy expensive underwater viewfinder.

Repep: right. Can someone explain why you'd want to look through an EVF viewfinder underwater when you can look at a big LCD screen (w/ I'm assuming just as many or more pixels)? Besides bright light viewing what reason is there?

CheersJames

On the E-P2, the EVF has 1,440K pixels while the screen only has 203K pixels, so you get a higher-resolution image with the EVF. I understand the point of the EVF on that camera.

On the E-PL1, it looks like you get fewer pixels in the EVF (202K pixels on the EVF compared to 460K on the LCD screen) so I really don't see the point of looking at a smaller lower resolution image outside of bright light viewing. Maybe there's a 1,440K EVF that will be released later as an accessory?

On the E-P2, the EVF has 1,440K pixels while the screen only has 203K pixels, so you get a higher-resolution image with the EVF. I understand the point of the EVF on that camera.

On the E-PL1, it looks like you get fewer pixels in the EVF (202K pixels on the EVF compared to 460K on the LCD screen) so I really don't see the point of looking at a smaller lower resolution image outside of bright light viewing. Maybe there's a 1,440K EVF that will be released later as an accessory?

I got to go with what dave said. Why would one want to look through a small EVF when one has a larger monitor to view subjects through especially is one does not have the best of vision? I am guessing that Live View is a slow mode to shot in on the PL1?

Does any of this crossover to the dicussions about the Pany GF-1? Is the Panasonic Live View different either in resolution or speed? I handled a Pany GH-1 and was really impressed with the EVF resolution.

All of this is of course the opinion of a very old film SLR shooter who instinctively looks through the viewfinder of any camera like I did with my old Nikon F2 in an Ike hsg and later started liking looking at much larger Oly LCD monitors. LOL

Yeah, too bad this camera likely has cripplingly slow autofocus. The GF1 is really the only one to consider.

With the same lenses, most people say the autofocus speed is the same between the E-PL1 and the GF1. Here's a Link to a discussion of that on dpreview.

With the 14-42mm kit lens, the E-PL1 is slow to focus, but that lens isn't very useful underwater, so that shouldn't matter. The focus speed with the Panasonic 7-14, with the Olympus 9-18, with the 8mm fisheyes coming soon from both Panasonic and Olympus, and with the 50mm macro lenses should be more important than focus speed with the kit zoom.

On the E-P2, the EVF has 1,440K pixels while the screen only has 203K pixels, so you get a higher-resolution image with the EVF. I understand the point of the EVF on that camera.

On the E-PL1, it looks like you get fewer pixels in the EVF (202K pixels on the EVF compared to 460K on the LCD screen) so I really don't see the point of looking at a smaller lower resolution image outside of bright light viewing. Maybe there's a 1,440K EVF that will be released later as an accessory?

E-PL1 accommodate VF-2 which is the same as E-P2The E-PL1 is equipped with an accessory port to enable use of the externally mounted VF-2 Electronic Viewfinder, which offers high-contrast, 1,440,000-dot resolution and a 100% field of view. The VF-2's live view functionality enables users to confirm the effect of camera settings before the shutter is released, so they can capture the scene precisely as they see it in the viewfinder. Dioptric correction is also provided to ensure a clear view for users who wear eyeglasses.

Hehe - I like that. So does that mean I should leave my perscription mask or contact lenses on the boat and just look through the corrected viewfinder all the time ;-)

I think that diopter is made for shooting topsides where some people take off their glasses to get a better view through the viewfinder. Underwater I think most people prefer to see everything - so wear glasses or contacts.

"At long last, I have found the new replacement for my all-time favorite camera, the Olympus SP-350. While no camera is as easy to use as the SP 350, none have the convenient presets that included the exposure settings, and none have the full range from super macro to wide and all with TTL, the Olympus Pen E-PL1 is the best that I have found. In spite of the short-comings of all cameras compared to the discontinued SP350, the E-PL1 has the best image quality and functionality of any camera in its price range today. "

Checked out the Olympus E-PL1 at Long Beach Scuba Show - AF with the 9-18mm WA lens was a lot faster than I anticipated. After-market dome ports are being tested and most likely will become available in the near future.

How it compares to a P&S case.

It's much smaller and lighter than an Ikelite dSLR housing

I know this Ikelite / T2i setup will take amazing photos and videos, but I'll never be able to put up with the bulk and weight.

EVIL UW system will become huge in the near future, and Sony's new Alpha NEX-5, using the larger APS-C sensor inside a smaller body with 1080i HD and 16mm f2.8 (24mm) pancake seems like the perfect solution for traveling light... An UW housing from Sony was rumored at the show Canon has been silence on its EVIL plan.